Carts for barbecue grills are quite common and come in a variety of forms. Most carts used to support a barbecue grill are left outside and are, therefore, exposed to extreme environmental conditions, including being left outside through a harsh winter and a hot summer. In addition, grill carts undergo rough treatment, since they are designed to be frequently moved about an owner's property.
Grill bowls that are supported by barbecue grill carts tend to be quite heavy and require substantial structural support. Furthermore, since the temperature inside the bowl of a barbecue grill can get extremely high, for safety purposes, structural stability of a barbecue grill cart is of utmost importance.
The exemplary grill cart described here achieves great structural strength and rigidity with a minimum number of fasteners, and is very visually appealing. These advantages are achieved, at least in part, by a pair of clamshell-like castings that secure pairs of tubular legs and upper frame members, and by incorporating side tables that are not only functional, but also serve as structural members to add rigidity to the cart without adding additional parts.
In an exemplary embodiment of the cart, a clamshell-like union member is used to connect together an upper frame and a lower frame to form a first frame assembly. The upper frame and lower frame may be U-shaped tubes, with the lower frame being an upside-down “U” and the upper frame being right-side up. The union member may be a rigid metal casting in the form of two mating halves. Other materials and manufacturing techniques may be used to form the union member. The two halves of each union member can be joined together by any well-known fasteners, such as screws, bolts, rivets, or equivalent fasteners. The two halves may also be welded together.
The union member can be used to create a substantially rigid frame assembly because its internal shape (a curved tubular channel) conforms to the upper and lower frames, preventing twisting and movement in multiple directions. Further, the union member can be formed with protrusions that mate with holes or depressions in the upper and lower frame members to hold or lock the frame members in place. Such protrusions will also ease the assembly of the cart, since they ensure that the upper and lower frame members are positioned properly even before the two halves of the union member are completely joined and fastened together. The protrusions inside the union member can be of different sizes—for example, the protrusion may be larger on the upper side of the union member, so that only the upper frame will mate with it. This prevents improper assembly of the grill cart.
The exemplary embodiment may also include one or more cross-members to connect the first frame assembly to a second frame assembly. The second frame assembly may be substantially the same as the first frame assembly, or it may be different. Two bowl supports extending between the two frame assemblies hold the bowl of the grill to the assembled frame. One or more rigid side tables also serve as structural cross-members that connect the first frame assembly to the second frame assembly. The side tables need not be attached to the bowl, but may be separated from the bowl by a space. The side tables (or alternatively, the grill bowl) may be fitted with pivot points that support the lip of the grill's lid when the lid is lifted off the bowl and tilted back. In such an embodiment, the lid is prevented from falling by the back edges of the side tables, so that the lid may be easily opened and closed without any hooks or other devices attached to the lid itself.